Some outboard motors are equipped with a display device for enabling an operator to recognize an abnormal state of cooling water, lubricating oil, etc of the engine. Particularly, in outboard motors where a tiller handle extending from a main body of the outboard motor to a watercraft body is used in steering the motor main body, it is known not only to provide the display device to a side of the main body of the outboard motor but also to provide the display device to the tiller handle which is closer to the operator, so that the display device is visible by the operator near the outboard motor (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 11-208589, for example).
Such a display device is generally configured to indicate the abnormality of the outboard motor by turning on a lamp, and has a lens on a surface of the lamp to improve visibility, which provides a certain view angle range. Besides, a liquid crystal display panel may be used in the display device to indicate various information regarding the state of the outboard motor. In such a case also, the display device will have a certain view angle range.
When the display device is mounted in a side surface of a housing of the tiller handle in such a manner that its display surface is substantially flush with the side surface of the housing, the operator will see the display surface of the display device obliquely from above and the view angle range of the display device cannot be fully utilized because part of the view angle range below the display surface will be wasted.
Meanwhile, in outboard motors where steering of a motor main body equipped with a propulsion propeller and a power source (or engine) for driving the propeller is conducted by using a tiller handle, the tiller handle (more specifically, a handle main body) may be supported by a bracket extending from the motor main body such that the handle main body is pivotable in an up-down direction whereby the handle main body may pivot from an operating position in which a center line of the handle main body extends in a substantially horizontal direction to a collapsed position in which the handle main body extends along the motor main body.
In the collapsible tiller handle as above, it is known to connect a base end of the handle main body and a free end of the bracket to each other by a lateral bolt which functions as a pivot shaft, wherein a nut is threadably engaged to the bolt to produce an axial tightening force which in turn can generate a frictional force for holding the handle main body at an arbitrary angle within a predetermined pivot range (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-218492, for example).
In such a tiller handle capable of steadily holding the handle main body, it is desirable that a structure is provided for keeping a predetermined tightening force by the nut for an extended period of time. However, such a structure can increase an axial dimension of the hinge portion, which may undesirably increase a width of the handle. Further, a tightening process in assembly may be cumbersome and thus lower the work efficiency.
The tiller handle may be equipped with various component parts, such as a shift lever, for improving operability. In a case where connection members for connecting these component parts to the motor main body, such as Bowden cables and wire harnesses, are drawn out from the handle main body near the bearing portion of the pivot shaft, it is also required to take into account the way of arrangement of the connection members when designing the structure around the pivot shaft.
Further, in outboard motors where a steering operation of the motor main body is conducted by using a tiller handle, it is customary to provide a load adjustment device for adjusting a load applied upon the steering operation conducted by an operator using the tiller handle. A known load adjustment device is constituted by a slide plate and a slide resistance adjustor for pressing a friction member against the slide plate to produce a desired slide resistive force, whereby the slide resistive force generated between the slide plate and the slide resistance adjustor along with a steering movement of the motor main body about a steering axis achieves a desired operational load (see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 51-60099, for example).
It such a load adjustment device, the slide plate can be attached to one of a member on the motor main body and a member on the attachment bracket, and the slide resistance adjustor is attached to the other of the members by suitable tightening means such as a blot or the like. However, in a structure where the slide plate is bolted to left and/or right side of the member on the motor main body as in the above mentioned conventional outboard motor, a positioning process for aligning a threaded bolt hole in the motor main body with a threaded bolt hole in the slide plate can be cumbersome, resulting in a complicated assembly work and increase in the number of steps required and hence leading to a higher cost. Thus, a structure that can allow easy positioning is desired.
Further, in the above slide resistance adjustor for producing a desired slide resistance by pressing the friction member against the slide plate, if a proper positional relationship between the friction member and the slide plate is not achieved in the direction of pressing of the friction member against the slide plate, it becomes difficult to adjust the slide resistive force to a desired value, which would hinder a smooth movement of the slide plate with respect to the slide resistance adjustor. Therefore, it is required to precisely control the attachment position of the slide plate in the direction of pressing, and it will be desirable to provide a structure that can facilitate such control of position of the slide plate.